Do you think it would be a good idea to replace the usual aluminium electrolytic capacitors on a Zero dac board for the better specs of a solid state (polymer) type capacitor.

I have a Zero dac which reproduces digital sound signals from my pc's usb port and it has 4 aluminium electrolytic's around the dac chip (47uf 35v) which are swollen and leaking and 4x 10uf 63v output coupling caps in the analog section, so 8 caps to replace in all, do you think a like for like replacement of the stock aluminium electrolytics for solid state polymer type caps would be okay in this situation.

I have done a google search and people have performed this on pc motherboards but there is not much on other types of equipment.

You are absolutely right concerning the panasonic fm series. I placed a few in a power supply last year and they were brilliant. The only problem is that they only go up to 50v.

About the panasonic fp and fk series i have found a few on mouser and farnel, in the values i need the esr is 0.18 ohms and cost 50 pence each. The nichicon rhu1h470mdn1ph is $2.50, okay a little more expensive but the esr is 0.02 ohms which is about a tenth of the panasonics. The panasonics do sound a little high in esr to me for a solid state capacitor so i am torn between the two deciding which to buy.

Talking about things to buy can anyone recomend a good desoldering iron for this job. I purchased this:

Thing is it melts the solder but the suction is very weak and it does not pick up any of the solder at all, can anyone recommend a 2-in-1 tool like this but with better suction. I don't want to spend a lot of money on a desoldering station for a one off job.

You are absolutely right concerning the panasonic fm series. I placed a few in a power supply last year and they were brilliant. The only problem is that they only go up to 50v.

About the panasonic fp and fk series i have found a few on mouser and farnel, in the values i need the esr is 0.18 ohms and cost 50 pence each. The nichicon rhu1h470mdn1ph is $2.50, okay a little more expensive but the esr is 0.02 ohms which is about a tenth of the panasonics. The panasonics do sound a little high in esr to me for a solid state capacitor so i am torn between the two deciding which to buy.

Talking about things to buy can anyone recomend a good desoldering iron for this job. I purchased this:

Thing is it melts the solder but the suction is very weak and it does not pick up any of the solder at all, can anyone recommend a 2-in-1 tool like this but with better suction. I don't want to spend a lot of money on a desoldering station for a one off job.

A great deal of work has been done over the years by many technicans with a standard soldering iron and a dedicated solder vacuuming tool. It is 2 pieces and keeps both hands busy, but it works!

The traditional brand name has been the Edsyn SOLDAPULLT. AFAIK they are still sold for competitive prices. My plain old plastic one is maybe 20 years old and stll gets the job done.

As far as soldering irons go I have gone through two temperature controlled soldering stations and currently do most of my work with a old-fashioned soldering iron with just a handpiece.

I think that if I was doing heavy assembly work that required soldering I would go back to a higher end 2-piece station, but that's not where the work is. I do a lot more crimping these days...

The trick to soldering is getting the temperature right for the solder and joint at hand. I've been soldering for over 55 years since I was 8 and doing it right is intuitive for me so I'm probably a bad source of advice about these things. That doesn't mean that I still don't occasionally screw up.

I think that for newbies the key is practice. Learn what a good joint looks like and solder up nonsense projects and then small non-critical projects until you are competent enough to be comformatble with more complex projects. Anybody who has never soldered and then picks up a project on a modern piece of elecronics with SMT parts is shall we say wildly optimistic about their learning curve. ;-)

As far as heat goes, IME you can do well with simple tools if there is the right balance between temperature, application of new heat, and use of heat stored in the metal parts of the soldering iron's tip. A larger soldering iron element (30-40 watts) with a fine tip is generally better than a smaller heating element.